I need advice about when to remove chicks from bator when i still have

[slickchik]

PIPS!!???!!

I am hatching out Trader Joes Eggs.... see this thread

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3531368#p3531368

First pips were Monday around 1pm.

First hatch was Tuesday around 7:30 am.

I still have lots of pips but I think I need to get some of those chicks out of the bator. I have 20 chicks and 18 eggs left and lots of pips.

I don't really know what to do if the hatch keeps going for a couple more days. I don't want to dry out the membranes of the eggs by removing the oldest chicks.


What if I take off the lid, move the unhatched eggs to a corner and cover them with a warm damp washcloth and then remove the chicks and excess shells.

I don't want to screw up here...

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I always just remove the chicks and while it's open, add a little warm water to spike the humidity right back up as it settles back after closing. I haven't had any problems with doing that. Just make sure you use warm enough water to put in there. It will need to produce humidity a little quicker due to the loss of opening the top. Also, if you have a small bator that the top comes off to get to the chicks, it helps if when you take off the top, just slide it to the side rather than flip it up. That way it keeps the warm air in the top and doesn't let as much escape. You retain more even temp and humidity that way because heat rises. I hope this helps you

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Personally, I would let it ride and reevaluate things this evening. The ones that have hatched are fine and don't need anything from you. They could just as well be in a box of peeps going through the mail for two days, right?

You know my hypothesis on these TJ peeps...I think they have a struggle hatching because of the low quality commercial diet fed to the mother hens. My experience with these has been that a lot of the later pippers will not wind up hatching and if anybody is going to die of "failure to thrive", it's going to be one of those that hatched latest. Still, I'd wait 'til this evening and then see if you've still got anybody working diligently to hatch and consider waiting more.

I don't believe the old "throw a wet towel trick" or the "pour steaming hot water inside" tricks ever work and when you open the 'bator, you shrink-wrap your peeps.

Just my opinion.

 

[dovecanyon]

I tip the lid up just enough to get my hand in and quickly grab a chick and drop the lid back down. Since the heat and humidity escapes upward, this doesn't seem to alter it a lot. This gives me time to hold each chick for a minute before puttting it in the brooder. When I have them all out, I watch the humidity for a few minutes to see how much it will come up on it's own, and add hot water if necessary.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

hmmm, hang on a sec...I just noticed that the first actual hatch was just yesterday, almost 27 hours ago. I don't even think twice about leaving my peeps in the 'bator up to 36 and even 48 hours after the first hatch. I wish I could get a nice, perfect hatch in which everybody is out within 12 hours of each other, but inevitably we're always waiting on some slowpoke. Unless I'm giving Marek's Vaccine, they usually stay in for about 36 hours, but sometimes even 48.

 

[ginbart]

I would not do anything. The ones tha hatched will be fine for another day.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

I would take the dry, fluffy and stable standing chicks out of the bator based on the fact that you have so many hatched. I usually scoop mine when they're fluffy, dry and stable. Then I use a mist bottle and give a spritz spritz as I'm coming out of the bator.